Change-speed axle



Dec. 18`, 1928.

E. J. HALL CHANGE SPEED AXLE Filedv Nov. l1, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l Dern I8, m28. E '1,69g585 E. J. HALL CHANGE SPEED AxLE Filed NOV. l1, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dee-'18, '1928.

si' o FICE.

ELEERT J'. HALL, 0F BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, SSIGNOR 1.0 RUGKSTEL' SALES ND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 0F BERKELEY, CALIFGBNIA, CORPORATION 0 CALIFORNIA.

emanen-SPEED einen. y

Application led November 11, 1925. Serial No. 68,308.

This invention relates to transmission mechanisms for motor driven vehicles, and more particularly to such mechanisms incombination with the differential gear system or- 6 dinarily employed on the rear axles of automobiles. y

The primary function of mechanisms of this type is to provide a variation of speeds in the rear axles, .such variation being par- 10 ticularly desirable to supplement the speed changes afforded by the regular transmission; It is the primary object of my invention to provide an improved mechanism of this type which is more simple, compact and durable in construction and more eiicient and smoother in operation than those heretofore known.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combined differential gear system in which the differential spider, which carries the differential and lanetary pinions, is entirely supported by said pinions in a freely floating manner.

Another object of the invention is to'provide a more compact and rigid assembly inl cluding a master ring ear having bevel gear teeth on an exterior ace thereof and spur gear teeth on its inner surface, these latter teeth being in mesh with the planetar pinlions in turn' meshing with a sun gear irectly adjacent one ofthe bevel gears of the differential mechanisnn This arrangement rovides a very compact construction Wherein the drive from the master gear to the sun .gear through the planetary pinions is in a irect line extendin at right an les to the 'axle and closely a'acent the ifferential mechanism. V

A further object of the invention is to provide an assembly of the tlype last stated in which a casing and cover p ate are respectively secured to the opposite ter gear and' rotatably supported in anti-friction bearings in the main housing, and wherein the cover plate is provided with teeth cooperating with an axially movable tootl'ied sleeve in a manner to either hold the sun gear against rotation or to lock thesame non-rotatably to the master gear. In suchconstruction the main thrusts of thes ider and its cooperating mechanism are ta en by these .two anti-friction bearings. l

With the above and other objects in view,

my invention consists in the features of .con-

and planetary "ferential comprises two faces of the inassecurely in a'shouldered struction and operation set forth in the following specification and illustrated `inthe acv reassescompanying drawing. In such drawinganl nexed thereto and forming a part of this specification, I have shown one specific embodiment of m invention, Ibut it Willdbe understood that t e invention can be otherwise embodied, and that the drawing is not to bel construed as defining or limiting the scope of the invention the claims appended to this specification being relied upon forthat purpose.

Referring to the figures of the drawing: Fig. 1 is a horizontal sectional view through the differential housing a motor vehicle. Fig. `2 is a cross line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

- Fig. 3 is 'a cross section of Fig.. 1.

Fin'. 4' is a4 fragmentary View of Fig. l, but s owing certain elements shifted to; another position.

Referring more specificallyto the drawing section therethrough on taken online 3-'3 by reference characters, l indicates the",di1feraxle of a motor ve`f eitial housing of the rear V p 4 hicle, and 2 and 3 .indicate respectivelythe two axle shafts which are secured'to 'ther-ear.`

forwardly of the' vehicle forthe main drive The differential mechanism. .within the housing comprises in part, two coaxial bevel gears 8 and 9 rotatably supported on their outwardly extending hubs 8 kand 9 inafter described. The p rings 10 and 1 0b secured together by of the rear axle of as here-` spider lObf the dif? a pluralityof bolts 11. lI

sov

4 85 or transmission shaft 7, f.

have provided eight of these boltsa'sillus-w v trat'ed in Fig. 2.

large-diametered outwardly-projectingepor- AEach of such bolts has' :af-o5 tion 1'1a and al reduced portionj'll", the portion 11b being threaded nut 12. The portion'll of each bolt is fitte whereby thevbolts are manner ,for a purpose hereinafter described. Mounted on the inner hubs of the bevel gears 8 yand 9 is a ringl) having radially extending axles 14 carrying the usual bevel pinions 15 and extending outwardly into the spider.

held in a very rigid socket in the ring 10"- to receive a securing These pinionsy 15 mesh `with 'th-c bevel gears y 8 and 9 in the well known manner.

.wl vided in mechanism of lthis type, but I proslvide .a larger number of. suchY inions for a comprises the following mechanism: y I provide a onep1ece master ring gear with-bevel The planetary gear system. which, in combi-V nation with the differential gear system above described, constitutes my present invention,

16 ear-teeth 17 formed onan exterior face t ereof, and spur gear teeth 18 formedon its interior surface. -As illustrated in Fig. 1, the teeth 17 are in mesh with a driving bevel gear 19 on the main driving shaft A plurality of bolts 2Q secure a face plate 21V anda easing22 respectivel to the opposite faces of the ring gear 16. he face platehas annannular iiangedA porti( i 23. rotatably suported inthe housing 1 by means of a ball earing 24. The casing vencloses the differential mechanism and. is provided with an annu' lar flanged portion 25 rotatably supported in the housing 1 bynieans of a ball bearing 26. The master gear and its cooperating mechanism are therefore rotatably supportedon the anti-friction bearings 24 and 26. A sleeve 27 is su ported for limitedaxial movementwithn t c housing- 1 and coaxial "offthebevel gears'8 and 9. This sleeve is sup:

portedby a ring 28 non-rotatably secured in the housln Vand by 'theinner toothed portion 29 `of ythe anged ortion 23 of the face plate 21. VThe inner sur ace of the ring 28 is toothed to cooperatevvithteeth 30 on the sleeve, and a screw 31 threaded in the housing is adaprtd tosecure thering rigidly to the housing.

prevents anyrelative rotation there inner end of the sleeve 1s also toothed at 32 to coo rate with teeth 33 formed on the inner sur ace ofthe sun gear 34 supported thereon.

mountin permits free axial sliding movement of t e sleeve within the ear, but: ween.

' As illustrated,the sun gear is directly adjacent the outer face of thebevel gear 8 and is coaxial therewith. v.The innerend ofthe sleeve isalso recessed or cupped to supportingly receive the bevel gear hub 8 therein. .The hub 9 of the q bevelgear 9 i's rotatabl supported within the A.uit

casing 10 as shown in ig. 1.

`. The planetary pinions 35 of the planetary on @periphery of 'a Vnested at 39 toa shoe 40mountedin an annular 'ar system are rotatably vmounted on the a1- projecting ends '11" of the bolts 11, with- 1n e ring r 16'and outside the sun gear 34. three of these pinions are prourpose Vhereinafter describe Eight of j pinions are illustratedin the dra and each pinion is,i n mhwith the inner 18`of the rin`g gearand".with teeth 36 formed of thesungear.

The sleeve?? axiallybymeans yoke 37 mou'nted on a shaft 38 and congroove41 infthe sleeve. Theshaft-38 can be rotated'for theshifting operation by means oan to one endthereof, A.' rodconnededtothefreeendofthearmmaybe a` convenient to spectively neonates the operator. .It will be understood that movement ofthe vrod longitudinally in -one direction or the other will rotate the shaft 38 `and shift Athe sleeve axially 'in one-direction or the other respectively,

A spring pressed plunger 44 is mounted in the body portion oft-he yoke and cooperates with two notches in the shoe 40 for holding lthe sleeve in one or theother of its shifted 0 sitions. This novel locking or holding mec anism comprises the sub'ect matter of a copendingv application file June 3, '1924, Serial ing shaft 7 as shown in the drawing, and the at e l shafts ,2 and 3 thereafter slid axially into place within the'bevel gears. When thus assembled, it will be seen that the axle shaft 2 acts as'an inner support for thesleeve 27, andJ bevel gear 8. y

The operation of my improved mechanism as illustrated and described Ais as follows:V

The vsleeve 27 has two axial o erating positions. `In Iig. 1 the sleeve vis s own in its inner position wherein the sleeve is locked against rotation by the engagementof its teeth 30 with the cooperating teeth of the ring 28. Because of the 'coo' rating teeth' 32 and 33 of the sun ear an sleeve, the sun gear is therefore. a so locked `against. -rotaf tion. In such position of theparts, the drive from the ring gear 16 t0 the differential mechanism and` theaxle shafts 2 and 3. will ius `beat a reduced speed, such reduction def pending upon the rela-tive number of teeth 18 and 36 on the ring gear and sun gear r e In Fig. 4 the sleeve is shown in its outer position wherein the teeth 30 are disengaged to permit f ree rotation of the sleeve, and the teeth 321m the sleeve are engaged with the teeth '33 of the `sun gear 34 and the teeth 29 Y of the face platev21. The face late being rigidly securedto the gear, esun ar' and ring gearare, thexrfgre, securely l ed" In such p07 y an .relative rotation sltionof. e parts, thesun ear, and theirjcooperatmgpinions 35'are 'ed the and the axle shafts 2 and 3 will be direct. The construction as described therefore provides two variations of speedsfor each vof the transmission shaft 7. In a vehicle having. two speeds forward and'on'e re u verse, as-in the Ford-, theado on of m '.120 to rotate only as a unit, and the drive from gear tothe differential mechanism improved mechanism thereto would provi e- -four forward vand two reverse In a vehicle having three speeds forwardand one reverse, my mechanism would provide six speeds forward and two reverse speeds. It should also Ibe particularly noted that my improved mechanism is so constructed that the same is adapted to be mountedv within ythe ordinary and original differential housing oi' the vehicle without any change or replacement of such housing whatsoever.

The construction and operation of my invention and its several advantages and improvements will be apparent without further description thereof. It should be particularly noted, howeverhthat my planetary driving mechanism is arranged directly adjacent the bevel gear 8 of the differential mechanism', and the drive therethrough from the bevel gear 19 is directly inward from the point of engagement of the teeth of the gears 19 and 16. Such construction is much simpler and considerably more rigid and compact than similar devices heretofore .known or used. The spider 10 is floatingly mounted upon the bevel pinions 15 and is entirely out of contact with 'the bevel gears Siand 9.

Furthermore, the differential spider being loatingly mounted, the thrust of the bevelroller or ball bearings in such mechanisms..

' This arrangement forms a very solid and substantial drive between such elements, and serves tov properly equalize and carry the load. The face plate 21 also vserves as a vthe sun gear of the cover plate for housing the planetary mchanism, and in cooperationwith the sleeve 27 provides a most novel means for rigidly locking the sun gear and ring gear against relative rotation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

. 1. A differential gear system and a planetary gear system comprising in combination, a pair of coaxial bevel gears, a spider surrounding the bevel gearsand carrying a plurality of bevel pinions in mesh with both bevel gears, a plurality of bolts in the spider, the ends of the `bolts projecting beyond one face of the spider, a ring gear, a sun gear coaxial with the bevel gears, a plurality of pinions each` rotatably mounted on one of the said bolt projections and in mesh with the ring gear and sun gear, and means optionally operative to hold the sun gear against rotation or to lock the sun gear and ring gear and their cooperating pinions to rotate only as a unit, the spider being iioatingly supported entirely by thelbevel pinions and their sup'- porting axles. l i

2. In a rear axle system, a differential mechanism including co-axial bevel gears, bevel pinions intermeshed therewith, a rotatable spider for lcarrying the bevel pinions, a planetary change-speed gearing associated therewith and -having pinions journaled on the spider, and a ring gear carried by the diferentia'l driving gear, a housing around -the diderentialy and planetary mechanisms, said housing being supported at each .j

end by anti-friction thrust bearings, the parts being so arranged that the thrust of the bevel gear at one side is imparted directly to the end of the housing and at the other side is imparted t`o the end of the housing through planetary mechanism. ELBERT J. HALL. 

